Liverpool 0 Wolves 1: Kop that, fans pour scorn on Hodgson

LIVERPOOL 0 -- WOLVES 1

ROY HODGSON has waited almost six months for the Kop to sing his name. When the moment finally arrived their chorus was so dripping with sarcasm that, rather than leave him cheered, it merely drained what colour remained in his face.

If new owner John W Henry is as good as his word
and determined to tap into supporters’ feelings, then the Liverpool
manager will fear the worst today after Stephen Ward and Wolves penned
another squalid chapter in his increasingly tumultuous tenure.

Chants
of “Hodgson for England” were followed with the metronomic calling for
Anfield’s ambassador, Kenny Dalglish, to take temporary charge and
inject a modicum of optimism into a season that slumped to a
gut-wrenching new low.

Few fans would wish
anything other than goodbye and good riddance to 2010 and that applies
equally to the hapless Hodgson, who oversaw yet another wretched defeat
that rivals his ignominious reversal against Northampton in the Carling
Cup and the home aberration to Blackpool.

Long
before the final whistle had sounded, gaps in the stands were
everywhere with fans trudging out at an alarming rate having given up
on a group of players who looked as clueless as their manager on the
touchline. Liverpool head into the new year with their lowest points
tally – 22 from 18 matches – since 1953-54, a year in which, ominously,
they dropped out of the top flight. Yet even as one fight for survival
was fatally undermined, so Mick McCarthy’s quest to stay afloat was
bolstered.

A first victory here since Steve
Mardenborough scored his one and only goal for Wolves almost 27 years
ago brought with it a first away success in the league since last March
for the visitors, lifting them off the foot of the table with their
trip down to bottom club West Ham to come on Saturday.

That it was richly-deserved, with Wolves showing tenacity and enterprise, merely damned Liverpool further.

“Most
people’s perceptions of Wolves would be that we are heading down after
being beaten by Wigan at home and because we were bottom of the league
we would get our backsides smacked and our belly tickled here,” said
McCarthy. “Whatever happened, we decided we would come and give it a
go. I guess fortune favours the brave.”

His
reward for picking two strikers came when Ronald Zubar seized upon a
clearance by Sotirios Kyrgiakos and threaded a pass for Ward. He
reached the ball ahead of keeper Pepe Reina, who had more touches than
striker Fernando Torres in the first half in a sign of Liverpool’s
problems, and steered a shot just inside the post to leave the away
fans delirious.

Liverpool, in contrast, were
anaemic and ponderous. Despite the belated return of skipper Steven
Gerrard after injury, they peaked inside seven minutes and were unable
to conjure a moment of note in the rest of the contest against a team
that had kept just one clean sheet in 21 previous league games.

A
quick free-kick taken by Torres was touched into the path of intended
target, Raul Meireles, by George Elokobi to leave him with only keeper
Wayne Hennessey to beat.

Meireles took on the
opportunity first-time, but could only roll the ball against the legs
of the keeper before Richard Stearman headed clear.

Thereafter,
the hosts lacked both the guile and guts to out-manoeuvre committed
opponents, with endless long balls toward Torres who had little chance
of doing anything with them.

Whether Rennes
winger Sylvain Marveaux will improve that persistent shortcoming
remains to be seen. He sat snuggled in the directors’ box and is set to
become Director of Football Strategy Damien Comolli’s first signing in
a cut-price deal. But it might take much more than Marveaux’ arrival to
improve a club drifting aimlessly.

Whatever
the comings and goings in the dug-out and the boardroom, there has been
little change on the pitch. In 36 league games during this calendar
year, Liverpool have won 14, drawn 10 and lost12, a run which screams
of a slide towards mediocrity at best.

But as
they berated his tactics, his buys and his players’ dismal display,
those trudging disconsolately away could not take issue with one thing
Hodgson had done.

Having stated the new year
would bring new hope, the manager used the final game of 2010 to prove
that matters really could not get any worse.